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Hakumen
Hakumen is one of the Six Heroes, and a playable character in the ''BlazBlue'' series. Information Hakumen is a samurai-esque Rabbi wielding a sword as tall as he is and wearing a mask that completely hides his face. He is an incredibly powerful individual in the BlazBlue universe, so much so that the player is often told to proceed with caution when confronting him, and at times even advised not to do so entirely. His armor (which is the Susano'o Unit) seems to grant him limitless energy and incredible power, and his sword (a Nox Nyctores named "Ōkami") appears to bear the capability to kill characters that otherwise would be immortal, or have rapid healing properties that would make them difficult or impossible to kill. This makes him an equally dangerous foe to both mortal men as well as more powerful beings. It seems that Hakumen finds nuclear weapons to be a greater evil than the Black Beast was. This might be because while the Black Beast did spread destruction, it left seithr which became the power source for the future, while nuclear weapons just completely obliterated any life within its radius and leaves the area irradiated and useless. He was the legendary "Silver Knight" who appeared during the First War of Magic, and lead a band of Six Heroes (including himself) that ultimately defeated the Black Beast. Afterwards, Hakumen warned the people to "change their evil ways", but was exiled and sealed in a place called "the Edge" of the Boundary for roughly 90 years. He was later 'rescued', by Kokonoe, a scientist who often subjects Hakumen to her whims. He finds himself repeatedly aggravated by her meddling, especially when she interferes with his duels by having him teleported elsewhere. While Hakumen is generally a grumpy sort who often attacks characters without provocation, there are a few characters he will tolerate, including Jubei, one of his former comrades among the Six Heroes, and Rachel Alucard, to whom he feels indebted. He also seems to show an intense respect towards Bang Shishigami because of his sense of justice. It is revealed that Hakumen is, in fact, Jin Kisaragi through hints given to the player during both their respective stories in Calamity Trigger. In one of Jin's endings, he leaps after his brother, Ragna the Bloodedge, when Nu-13 latches onto him and jumps into the Cauldron with him at the Gates of Sheol. This thrusts Jin back into the past where he meets Rachel Alucard, who offers to help him become a true hero. From here, his soul is bound to the Susano'o armor, and he becomes Hakumen. Then he goes on to defeat the Black Beast as one of the Six Heroes. In one of Hakumen's Calamity Trigger endings, he calls Ragna his brother after 'killing' him (though bear in mind this Ragna was only an illusion), and Ragna recognizes him after Hakumen removes his mask to bid farewell to him face-to-face. Hakumen then claims he must denounce his old name, and ends up fighting a shadow of his former self, Jin Kisaragi. He also states that he must do this to repent for killing his brother, implying that Jin, even as Hakumen still cares about Ragna due to lacking possession of Yukianesa. During Continuum Shift, it is revealed that when he was still Jin, Tsubaki Yayoi was his secretary instead of Noel Vermillion and while they had more time together, he still left her in his neglect, which ultimately lead to her demise, and in respect, he named one of his techniques after her. He also learns that Kokonoe is storing nuclear warheads, something he fears and despises even more than the Black Beast. Hakumen and Jin try to defeat Mu, but had no success. During the fight, he was relieved that Jin was able to control himself. Sometime after the incident at the Sheol Gates, believing Rachel to be too soft as an observer, Hakumen decides to walk his own path. In the final of Chronophantasma, Hakumen kills Terumi for good. Appearance Hakumen follows a rather unique blend of cyborg and samurai. He wears semi-heavy white armor and a muscular body suit with a large collar and the traditional hakama present, ballooning pants common in samurai. His long silver hair is tied at the mane. All armored sections feature fully-functional crimson eyes with slit pupils. These eyes are not as much of an intimidation as much as the mask he wears; a completely white, two horned helmet with no features or visor, appearing to have no face at all, a feature that paralyzes even Ragna in fear. When he is in Amane Nishiki's Astral Heat, he appears as a cat-like figure with one strand of sliver hair, symbols on his stomach, and a smaller version of Ōkami. This is shown here. Personality Hakumen devotes his entire life to destroying the evils that corrupt the world, and wants to erase those he believes should not exist. He is a serious, no-nonsense sort who maintains a calm and collected presence, rarely letting things get to his head. However, he is also quite prideful and even arrogant sometimes, to the point of occasionally getting him into issues. He prefers to do things on his own, and hates to rely on others' assistance with anything. Despite being a powerful warrior, he is not without mercy, and even spared Ragna when he was injured. Being the future version of Jin Kisaragi, it is no surprise that the two share similar personality traits. Both are cold at times, but Hakumen is more focused rather than distant. He is essentially what Jin would be without the influence of Yukianesa or anyone else manipulating him. He knows that it is his destiny to destroy Ragna, being the bearer of the Power of Order, yet hates every bit of this fact, showing that he still cares about his brother. The only time he has ever dropped his calm and focused persona is during his Bad Ending, where Hazama cruelly tortures Tsubaki. Having lost Tsubaki previously and still loving her to the day, he displays extreme rage when anyone hurts her. Hakumen also seems to show much indifference toward his comrades, as he does not seem to enjoy encounters with Jubei, Valkenheyn and Trinity. However, he was greatly shaken and shocked when he encounters Phantom, before Rachel teleported him and Valkenheyn away from her. Due to his ego, Hakumen often clashed with other members of the cast. Over time, however, he has become much more focused on the more important matters, letting fate run its course with the rest of the cast and not interfering with their affairs. Even though he considers Ragna his greatest opponent, since Continuum Shift he has put aside their rivalry for the sake of the greater good. By Chronophantasma, their rivalry is noticeably less hostile. Powers and Abilities Being one of the Six Heroes, Hakumen possesses exceptional strength incomprehensible to the norm. The armor, Sankishin Susano'o, bestows him with incredible fighting prowess, allowing him to tap into infinite reserves of power, enabling him to fight for prolonged periods of time without rest and to increase his own strength. The various eyes adorned all over the armor suggest that they are for sight enhancement as the helmet features no visor. His weapon of choice is Nox Nyctores, Ookami, a nodachi with an odd blunt tip in place of a sharp point. The sword is attached to a sheath on his back with a slot to allow him to draw the sword without straining his arm due to its long length. Hakumen repeatedly claims that despite its cursed nature, it is a weapon meant to destroy evil, hinting that it may have holy properties. It apparently possesses the ability to negate ars magus as well. Hakumen's Drive, Zanshin, allows him to project energy barriers that repel enemy attacks and allow him to effectively counter advances towards him. Unlike the other characters who have a Heat Gauge, Hakumen uses a special 8-point gauge named Magatama, that allows him to pull off all of his special attacks, which automatically fills up or can be filled up by countering attacks. While using unlimited form his gauge will regenerate faster. In addition, whenever Hakumen's sword attacks clash with a projectile, he leaves behind a large vacuum crest known as Fumajin (Earthbind) at the point where the clash took place. Not only can it absorb all projectiles but it can also damage his opponent if they touch it though this will cancel it out. It should be noted that throughout the games, Hakumen is only at 20% of his full power due to not being fully salvaged from the Edge by Kokonoe. Musical Themes Stages Titles Trivia * Hakumen's stated birthday is the same as that of his counterpart Jin, indicating that he still has some memories of his past. This is further supported in Continuum Shift from his conversation with Tsubaki. * Until the player gets to Hakumen's ending where he fights Ragna and kills him, no one knows that Hakumen is Jin. Rachel points to this in a way when you get one of Jin's endings (where she asks if Jin would like to become a "real hero"), or when you meet her in one of Hakumen's paths. In Continuum Shift, Hakumen directly confronts and defeats a bewildered Jin in his story, while he chastises Jin's obsessiveness. * It is unknown if Ragna knows why Hakumen wants to kill him, or if Hakumen's desire to kill Ragna stems from remnants of Yukianesa's power, The will of Order or Terumi's influence on him from living within the Susano'o for so long. Even though Terumi was honest in telling Jin that Ragna is part of the Black Beast, it is possible that Ragna can do something else other than destroy, though Hakumen does not want to risk that. Another possible reason is that he might think he can keep the Black Beast from being "born" by killing Ragna, which could be possibly one of the easiest and efficient methods. By Continuum Shift, his focus is shifted mainly on Terumi and Saya/Izanami , though he still acts antagonistic to Ragna. * For both Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift, Hakumen posses an instant kill combo. It is very difficult to use and can only be done when Kokūjin Ōgi: Mugen is activated. ** This combo was changed for Continuum Shift II. Still using Kokūjin Ōgi: Mugen, it is easier, but it deals a total of 9000 Damage. * Along with Rachel, Hazama and Arakune, Hakumen is one of the few who do not appear to have a skeleton. This is due to the fact he is just a suit of armor (apparently), but can still get shocked. His insides appears as his armor outline, wires, and orb-shaped items. * The word hakumen means "white face" or "white mask" in Japanese. It can also mean "blank face". Both are true in Hakumen's case. * In Continuum Shift, dialogue reveals that the multiple orbs on his body are his eyes. There exists the possibility that Hakumen also has eyes in his head, as shown in his canon ending, where it is revealed that he is Jin, pulling off his mask to see Ragna one last time before he dies (Ragna was an illusion of the Boundary). * In Japanese, the "Just Sword" part of his speech its written "Jin" in Romaji, so the speech that says "Ware wa Jin" can also be translated "I am Jin" which is actually a Stealth Pun, in which he reveals himself as Jin Kisaragi. * The Japanese god Susano'o and Hakumen, whose Susano'o Unit is named after this god, have a few things in common. Both have slayed an eight-headed monster (Yamata-no-Orochi/The Black Beast) and both were banished from their home (Susanoo to the earth/Hakumen to "The Edge" beyond the Boundary). * In Continuum Shift's Arcade Mode, Hakumen is not fought in the final stage. However, along with Ragna and Hazama, Hakumen can be fought in his Unlimited Form (in the case of Tager and Hazama). Also, in Score Attack Mode, he is one of the four characters that are fought in their Unlimited Forms, along with Rachel, Ragna and Hazama. ** This changes in Continuum Shift II, ''where Mu's fights Hakumen in her final stage. *Much like the Murakumo Units, Hakumen and Jin have the same input for their Astral Heats. *Storywise, it is unclear what exactly Hakumen's Drive does. Possible explanations are that either Zanshin stops time for a very brief moment or the shield Hakumen creates nullifies the opponent's attacking power to help him make a counterattack. Both explanations being true is also entirely possible (especially given Hakumen's ability to cut through space and time, as demonstrated in his Story Mode in ''Continuum Shift). In the Chimelical Complex manga however, Zanshin seems to absorb incoming force and redirect it into the attacker in a manner very similar to Accelerator's Reflector in Toaru Majutsu no Index series. **Intriguingly, in both Chimelical Complex, where Hakumen fights Ragna, and The Wheel of Fortune, where Hakumen fights Hazama, Zanshin is used to avoid an attack from behind. Ragna only gets pushed away however, while Hazama is countered by a heavy slash. *Since Continuum Shift Extend, a new vocal filter has been used for his English dialogue which lowers his pitch by a few octaves, giving the impression that Hakumen has a different voice. *Hakumen's crest depicts a kitsune, a fox in Japanese mythology that can grow as many as nine tails, in its center. *For an unknown reason, in Hakumen's Continuum Shift audio gallery, right after "Kokūjin Ōgi: Akumetsu", "Kokūjin: Rehhyō" can be heard. 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